# 就 and 才 Before the Verb: 4,166 Clauses

> 就 and 才 stand immediately before the verb in 4,166 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), marking whether something followed sooner or later than expected.

**Pattern:** clause + 就 / 才 + verb
**HSK level:** 2 — the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'
**Rule used to find it:** 就 or 才 immediately before a word with a verb sense.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 4,166 matches checked, 97% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

就 and 才 are a matched pair with nothing between them in English. 就 says the next thing followed at once, or more easily than you would think; 才 says it took longer, or more, than you would think. Neither translates to a word — they translate to a shrug of expectation.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 就 5,798 times, 才 184 times. 1,816 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

In narrative, 就 is the connective tissue of the whole Old Testament: 亚伦就去, so Aaron went; 他们就说, then they said. A reader who treats it as then and moves on will read the historical books at speed, and will be right most of the time.

It is commonest in Genesis, with 331 of them, and 64% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.

## Examples

- **Matthew 9:7** — 那人就起来，回家去了。
  - nà rén jiù qǐ lái ， huí jiā qù le 。
  - He arose and departed to his house.
  - construction: 就起来
- **Acts 21:6** — 我们上了船，他们就回家去了。
  - wǒ men shàng le chuán ， tā men jiù huí jiā qù le 。
  - After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.
  - construction: 就回家
- **John 9:26** — 他们就问他说：「他向你做什么？是怎么开了你的眼睛呢？」
  - tā men jiù wèn tā shuō ：「 tā xiàng nǐ zuò shén me ？ shì zěn me kāi le nǐ de yǎn jing ne ？」
  - They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
  - construction: 就问
- **1 Samuel 14:9** — 他们若对我们说：『你们站住，等我们到你们那里去』，我们就站住，不上他们那里去。
  - tā men ruò duì wǒ men shuō ：『 nǐ men zhàn zhù ， děng wǒ men dào nǐ men nà li qù 』， wǒ men jiù zhàn zhù ， bú shàng tā men nà li qù 。
  - If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we come to you!’ then we will stand still in our place and will not go up to them.
  - construction: 就站住
- **Luke 17:19** — 就对那人说：「起来，走吧！你的信救了你了。」
  - jiù duì nà rén shuō ：「 qǐ lái ， zǒu ba ！ nǐ de xìn jiù le nǐ le 。」
  - Then he said to him, “Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.”
  - construction: 就对
- **Mark 15:35** — 旁边站着的人，有的听见就说：「看哪，他叫以利亚呢！」
  - páng biān zhàn zhe de rén ， yǒu de tīng jiàn jiù shuō ：「 kàn nǎ ， tā jiào yǐ lì yà ne ！」
  - Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
  - construction: 就说

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 就 | jiù | 1 | 5,798 |
| 才 | cái | 2 | 184 |

The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 2.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 4,166 | 70% |
| the same words doing something else | 1,816 | 30% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Genesis | 331 |
| Luke | 266 |
| Matthew | 253 |
| Acts | 234 |
| John | 221 |

Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.

## Questions

**Is 就 the same as 便?**

Nearly. 便 is the literary twin and this translation uses both, which is one of the clearest signs that its Chinese sits between the classical language and the modern one.

**How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?**

4,166 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 5,982 occurrences of the words that mark it.

**Which book of the Bible uses it most?**

Genesis, with 331 — followed by Luke (266), Matthew (253), Acts (234).

**How do you know the count is right?**

The rule is: 就 or 才 immediately before a word with a verb sense. 30 of its 4,166 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 97% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/jiu-cai

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